I would like to thank St. Martin’s press and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I’m a person who LOVES to travel and who gets wanderlust often so I really enjoyed this book right away and identified with Carla. She’s free, fun, spontaneous but really loving and kind. Usually those types of characters are often written too flighty but she remained a free spirit while still being a grounded and reliable person.
The story gets off to a fun start when they meet at the bar and it doesn’t slow down! The pace of this story was fantastic all of the way through to where I never got bored. I was swept away into this wonderful budding relationship and was happy to be along for the ride! Carla and Eamon are just so much fun together and I loved their chemistry and support for each other’s dreams. Also this quote from Eamon gave me butterflies:
“Because never once have I ever met anyone who makes me feel the way you do, immediately and wholly,” he says. “You make me happy. You make me wild. And I don’t think I’ll ever get you out of my system.” Just so perfect!!!
The last thing that made this story perfect was Biggie. All of it just made me tear up. The author captured the love that girls have for their dads. This brought a whole new level to the story and Carla’s character.
I keep saying the word “Fun” but that’s the best word I can use to describe this story! My first 5 star book of 2023! Really really happy I got a chance to read this!! Highly recommend!

I have the other two books on this series in my TBR, but after reading this one I feel like I need to go get those to read asap. I loved this book and thought it was so cute. Something I would definitely read again!

Okay seriously these books just keep getting better and better. I loved the story, the setting, the characters, and everything else. Eamon is just so perfect. Carla is perfectly flawed. I'm so so glad we got to meet Biggie and Stella. I laughed. I cried. I swooned. Normally slow burn is my jam but this is the complete opposite of that and still it is just perfect.

If you loved previous books by Trish Doller you will really enjoy her newest. There are ties back to Float Plan but you don't need to have read that first (although I highly recommend it). Trish will continue to be an auto read/buy for me.

I was initially very interested in this book based on the cover. I mean come on... SHEEP! Haha. First of all the main character being someone who's motto is literally YOLO, and she has a jeep traveling sounds like something I wish I could do. The MMC is a cartographer and while he is the one who is supposed to be good at knowing directions, he is struggling finding his own direction in life. Their meet cute is pretty cute, and they are thrown into a situation that forces them together. I would definitely recommend reading Off the Map when it releases on March 7th, 2023. This really reminds me of some of my favorite 2000s rom-com movies, and I just really enjoyed the vibe.

I will be posting my review on Goodreads, Instagram, and Amazon.

I absolutely fell in love with the main characters in the book. I adored Carla’s personality and how she handled what life gave her. Her relationship with her dad is so heartwarming.

I also loved the travel part of the story. The author did a beautiful job writing about faraway lands that I desire to visit like Ireland!

Thanks to NetGalley for the copy of this book for the purpose of this review. 5 stars from me!

*ARC REVIEW*

2.5 stars

Off the Map was a quick and sweet read. It follows Carla, a bartender and traveler, who arrives in Ireland to be the Maid of Honor in her friend's wedding. When she gets to Dublin, her first stop is to meet Eamon, the best man, at a pub. They instantly hit it off and embark on a journey of the lifetime through Ireland.

I enjoyed the relationship that Carla and Eamon had and could feel the chemistry instantly. I personally had trouble relating to the story though because oh how close they got in the span of a few days. They did not know each other prior to this trip, so it felt a bit unrealistic with how quickly they fell for each other. I also just felt it was a bit rude of the pair to continuously delay their arrival to the wedding. If I was Anna, I would want my maid of honor there!!!

My favorite plot point of the book was Carla's relationship with her father, lovingly called Biggie. The difficult topic of dementia was covered beautifully, and the ending felt very satisfying.

It was a quick read. I found it hard to get into because of how fast paced it was, but it was fun to read about the beautiful Ireland scenery.

The book started off pretty great. And then it just got worse from there.

First off, the two main characters drove me a little crazy. They seem incredibly tacky and selfish, traveling for their own enjoyment at everyone else's expense.

Then there's the romance. So much sex. No tension whatsoever. I'm not even sure why it was there. I can't decide if it's a subplot with Carla and her dad being the main plot, or vice versa.

This is also a personal thing, but Carla's experience with her dad getting dementia was triggering for me, which hindered my reading experience quite a bit. I can usually handle okay, but I think feeling frustrated with the rest of this book made those parts really hard for me to get through.

So, overall, it's a no from me.

I enjoyed the first book in this series called Float Plan and the second The Suite Spot was good so I figured I would enjoy this one too! Or at least, I had high hopes. Sadly, this just wasn’t my cup of tea for a few reasons.

The book is told from one point-of-view and it comes from Carla. She has been friends with Anna since they started working at the same bar until Anna left on a trip of a lifetime and is now marrying Keane. They were the couple from book one and I loved reading about their story!

Carla likes to travel around and has been doing it with her dad for many years as he raised her as a single parent. I liked learning about their relationship, which was basically a second plot, and I could understand her feelings when it came to her dad as he had dementia. My grandmother had it and its very devastating to see their mind deteriorate over time. She is very adventurous and I liked that about her. Besides those two things, I didn’t care much for her or her love interest. I just never connected with them on a deeper level, especially Eamon.

Eamon and Carla have a very insta-lust relationship from the beginning. They were already canoodling within a very short time. I figured it wouldn’t end well and sure enough, I was right. Even though they have some adventures, I just felt like they didn’t grow a deep connection, especially when Carla was throwing the word love out there in a very short time. It didn’t feel genuine. This could also be due to the first half of the book being more about them and then the second half being about her dad and them feeling like two separate books. Eamon doesn’t come back into the picture until it’s very close to the end.

The emotional stakes in this third book weren’t as grand as we have read before. The first was about Anna finding herself and the romance was a slow-burn which I enjoy. This one just felt like it was more spice than anything and it’s just not the type of book I enjoy reading. I know others won’t feel the same as me.

Overall, this one didn’t work for me. I liked parts of it but I just had a very hard time getting into it.

-"How the hell are you still single?"
-"Because you aren't mine."

Gahhhh!
Eamon Sullivan, you charming bastard, you!

There is a lid for every pot! Right? Some people find their person while they are least expecting. In Carla Black's case, when she was in Ireland for her best friend Anna's wedding. Best man, Eamon Sullivan, Float Plan's Keane's brother, and Carla meet at a bar to travel to the wedding destination but they took a little detour and explore a few locations. Carla is sort of a globetrotter. She is raised by a single father and their summers were all about traveling. She works as a waiter for half the year in Florida and the rest of the year she travels. She doesn't do relationships because she doesn't stay. Eamon is the sensible older brother to Keane, or rather, he's been placed on that position by their mother but deep down he craves to see the world. And then, he meets Carla. It is like a sign from above.

These two have an indisputable chemistry. What started out as a harmless fling turns into much more. They catch feelings but once again, Carla doesn't stay. This time, though, Carla doesn't choose traveling but her only family, her father whose memory is deteriorating due to dementia. But Eamon is not one to back away so easily.

I finished this book within 24 hours. Eamon is just as charming as his brother. I know I am going to reread this book in audio format just to hear him say "feck", and "Jeysus". Ireland setting was just great.

Trish Doller's books just makes you want to pack and go somewhere, anywhere...

i don't even remember how or when I came across trish doller's books but i'm so glad i did. i really enjoyed this book; the pacing was refreshing and the story was really engaging. i wish eamon's character was a little more flushed out - i just felt like i didn't know him that well. but i literally finished this book in an afternoon. i hope we see more sullivan's in the future!

Part time bar tender, Carla Black, grew up with a wanderlust inspired father who took her on adventures every summer in their beloved red Jeep Wrangler, mostly camping out in major and minor parks around the country. For the past several years, Carla has been trekking on her own since her beloved father, Biggie, has serious health issues. Carla’s motto coined by her father is “here for a good time, not a long time” which she had kept, avoiding any long-term commitments to places or people with few exceptions. Carla’s best friend, Anna, is marrying her Irishman fiancé, Keane, so she arrives in Ireland to be the maid of honor. Keane’s brother, Eamon, is meant to be Carla’s ride to the Sullivan hometown, but things go off road, literally, very quickly.

Eamon’s job as a digital cartographer means he makes maps of the world for other people to travel with while he stays stuck behind a computer. Eamon has a dream to take a journey like the way Carla does; however, he seems stuck in a job he dislikes until Carla helps Eamon see what is possible. Eamon and Carla take some interesting detours in the Emerald Isle while his family is wondering when they will show up for the wedding festivities.

Carla and Eamon both have a lot of family baggage to contend with and the time they spend together gives each a new perspective as they have both long been committed to following their parents’ directives resulting in neither one being quite happy where life has taken them. Carla has been avoiding going home because seeing her father so diminished is more than she can take while Eamon has his own family issues to deal with before change can happen. Carla has been on her own for so long, making a commitment to a man she feels deeply for seems beyond her.

I always enjoy Ms. Dollar’s writing and skill at telling compelling stories, most especially, the first book in this Beck Sister series, THE FLOAT PLAN. While Carla is not related by blood, she considers Anna a sister of the heart. Although Eamon and Carla certainly had some rom-com like adventures, the part of this book relating to her father’s declining health takes a decidedly sad turn. The crossroads in this story for Carla and Eamon are literal and metaphorical; I think readers will be well pleased with this new addition.

This is tough one for me to rate. Some parts I loved and others really turned me off. I'll start by saying that even though this is book three in the Beck Sisters series it can be read as a stand alone. The character connections are explained and although I realized there must've been an earlier book it did not interfere with my understanding of what was going on.

I'm not a fan of insta-love/insta-lust. It just never seems believable to me. That aside, I didn't care for Carla for a lot of this book. She came across to me as selfish and shallow. As the story went on there were reasons given for her behavior and I admit they were good ones. She recognized her flaws and had regrets for past actions. But I never really liked her. Eamon was actually too good for her. He was fun and loveable. I could see him falling for Carla because she represented everything he wanted to do with his life. Their adventures together were fun to watch, although a few of those sex scenes could've been cut for some more meaningful conversation.

As for her father and his condition, I cannot believe anyone abandoning someone they love even if they were asked to. Carla wasted years that she could've spent with her beloved father while his memory was not yet that bad, and instead traveled around the world at his request. She still did video calls with him so I don't get the "not wanting her to see him like this" attitude from either of them. And to top it off, his care was left to his girlfriend, who he had no previous intent to marry, and when he needed a caretaker all of a sudden decides marriage is a fine idea.

So yes, I had issues and they were hard to overcome. I did feel as though Carla finally grew up by the end and it helped that her father also admitted his mistakes in raising her that resulted in her inability to have relationships with people. The ending, though rushed, was touching and quite emotional.

Others will love this book. I'm sure of it. The writing was high caliber. But for me, if I don't like the characters my enjoyment is affected. In the end, I did round up to 3* because any book that can make me cry did something right.

I loved Float Plan and The Suite Spot and couldn’t wait to read Off the Map. Unfortunately, this book was a DNF for me at 35%. The insta love between Carla and Eamon did not work for me. I honestly thought my copy was missing a chapter or two because it felt like there was something missing on how quickly their fling began. I also found that I didn’t enjoy the characters enough to keep going and see the rest of their journey throughout Ireland.

What do you get when a tough wanderer in a Jeep and a Irishman who's afraid to take the leap to travel run into each other before a wedding? A few days of romping adventure and instalove! Carla has lived in her Jeep for years while Eamon has been responsible, not stepping out of line for a minute (except to be a Land Rover Defender, of course). When he picks her up from the airport, best man for maid of honor, they fall for each other instantly, and rather than going straight to the wedding, Carla guides him on his first adventure. However, as they talk and connect in ways they never expected, they both make realizations about where they're called next that seem to pull them in different directions despite their newfound connection.

This book was so fast-paced--in just a few days, the characters fall immediately in love in a way that just was too ridiculous for me, even for a soapy rom-com type of a book. Even towards the end of the book, as we witness some darker scenes with Carla's father who struggles with dementia, the book seems to lack some emotional heart and again is too fast-paced. While I enjoyed the witty banter and characters, they didn't develop any depth throughout the story, especially Eamon. I never felt like we knew anything about Eamon beyond a brief cardboard cut-out of who he was supposed to be. I just struggled to relate to the premise of this story--it wasn't for me, unfortunately.

2.5/5

First, I would like to say thank you NetGalley and St. Martins Press for the ARC of this book!
I have not read any books from this author, Trish Doller so I was ready and open for anything and really looking forward to what was in store for me. I was not disappointed!
Let me say, this story was not life changing, but it was very relatable and eye opening. This book helps us all remember that life should never be taken for granted, our time here is precious and valuable. It also reminds us that if we love someone we must spend time with them before we lose our chance. Also, we can't spend time doing things we hate or running from our pain.
I really enjoyed the romance, the flirting and also the sadness and grief we meet.
This book left me with the lesson that sometimes we meet people who help us change our perspective to live in a new way and thats what makes this book special!
Enjoy nature, enjoy traveling, enjoy love!

I loved this book. This is the third book that I have read in this series and Trish Doller did it again. This is a smart, sassy contemporary romance and Carla the perfect strong female heroine. I loved Eamon as well. What’s not to love about a handsome Irish man? Seriously though, as in her other two books in this series the two lead characters each learn important things about themselves and grow into better people because of it. There’s an enjoyable amount of steaminess in the book too.

4/5 stars

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the eARC of this book.

Disclaimer: I haven’t read any of the earlier books in this series. Maybe I would care more about Carla and Eamon and the relationship wouldn’t feel so rushed if I had read the earlier books. Maybe?

This was a hate-read for me. The insta-love was a turn off for me and just set me off in a disappointing journey through this book. The pacing in the book in general was odd. The characters were meh and there were so many meaningless references to geography that I started skimming and Carla has an incredibly one dimensional personality that made it hard to like her.

Carla is Girl Who Travels. That’s her personality. We’re told this again and again and again. Obviously she only likes that life because of trauma and the underlying belief that she can’t count on the stability or permanence of anything in this universe so she embraces that impermanence. Unfortunately, her stoicism stops at relationships. With Eamon, she doesn’t want a relationship because she can’t guarantee that she won’t put someone else through the pain of her getting dementia (because her father has dementia).

Eamon: Eamon didn’t like his ex Sophie because she was a shallow influencer unlike Carla who is …also an influencer? I never quite understood how Carla was so much more interesting than Sophie. The worst I really hear was that Sophie was dull and had boring interior design choices and “wouldn’t let” Eamon do certain things. Unlike Carla who parents him and lectures his Mom the first time she meets her (I got second-hand embarrassment so many times from the things she does).

Overall, I could never quite get into the story. It started with knowing that they completely fell in love within six days. For many stories I can completely understand quickly falling in love, but whatever was going on in this one made it abundantly clear every time that their connection was shallow. The best part of the book was when Carla returned home and was caring for her father. If the author started the book at that point, left out the romance, and really fleshed out some of the relationship with her father and with Stella, I could see loving that book.


Thank you Net Galley and St. Martin’s Griffin for the eARC.

Ok- I need an adventure STAT after finishing this one! Oof, I loved the characters in this one. Their travel exploits were so fun and fresh. I raced through this book! While it definitely works as a standalone, I highly recommend starting with book 1. Revisiting the characters in subsequent books in this series has been a delight. Off the Map was charming, emotional, steamy, and oh-so-fun. This book made for a great retreat on a gloomy winter day.. and left me looking up flights to Ireland. (I wish). Check this one out if you love witty writing and sweet romance!

Trish Doller's "Off the Map" is a balance of fun & spicy yet remains heartwarming. If you liked "Float Plan" this is another Beck Sister love story that will not disappoint. Excellent for fans of chick lit- this was a quick and entertaining read. The characters were easy to love and the story was enjoyable from beginning to end.